Touring Café Rey

Our friends Alex & Adri invited us to visit them in San Jose and join them for a surprise birthday party (with karaoke!) at their home. This was an invitation we wouldn't pass up!

We decided to try out the bus service to San José, instead of renting a car from Thrifty. We took the non-stop bus from Puntarenas (Directo). The buses are modern and certainly the equal of buses in the 'States. The only thing I wasn't pleased with was the 11" spacing between the seats. Being a little on the tall side, my legs spent the journey in the center aisle of the bus! I was amazed to see the bus driver passing long lines of semi trucks uphill on a twisty mountain road in a bus. It might have been better had I not seen... Not surprisingly, we arrived in San Jose ahead of schedule.

We were greeted at the bus terminal by Eduardo and taken to Alex's office at Café Rey. Café Rey is one of the largest coffee roasters in Costa Rica. Established by Alex's father, Café Rey continues the family tradition, roasting Costa Rican coffee only.

Café Rey translates to "King Coffee" in English, so it shouldn't have come as a surprise that the factory looks like castle. Arriving at the factory, when we stepped from the car, we were greeted by the delicious aroma of roasting coffee. Alex showed us into his office, and after a brief discussion, we were off for a tour of the extensive facility.

Coffee is roasted in giant roasting machines, processing 1000 pounds of coffee in each batch! Specialty and single origin coffees are roasted in small batches in special machines.

Café Rey produces a style of coffee only found in Costa Rica and in Spain. In this style of coffee, beans are roasted and then covered with caramelized sugar. The sugar is added after the beans are already roasted and cooked just until the moment it is completely turned to caramel. The caramel-coated beans are then upended into a special (giant) cooling drum to arrest the cooking process. To clean the drum, the workers band on it with rubber mallets! Sugar-coated coffee, called tradicional here, isn't sweet at all. It's smoky and rich and a little bitter. Ticos like the sugar coated coffee, and this is the "local brew".

Alex told us stories of when the roasting machines were all wood fired, and they used to explode like bombs when something went wrong. This was a far cry from the precisely controlled operation we saw! One thing that is still the same is that every batch is controlled by a master roaster. When the coffee is nearing completion of the roasting process, the master roaster is sampling the coffee every few seconds. At just the right moment, the coffee is sent to cool. Every batch of coffee is slightly different!

Amazing boat spotted in Puntarenas!

I was on the aft deck tending to Samadhi's never ending maintenance, when I happened to look up and see a new boat nearby. At first I thought it was a traditional chinese junk, but after fetching the binoculars I was at a loss as to how to describe it. So Kelly and I hopped in the dinghy and headed over to take a closer look..

The boat is a handbuilt and home-designed trimaran called the "Aurora Delfin II". Aboard were the two men (Tomas and his partner Ian) who designed and built her over more than 10 years. All of the construction took place in Costa Rica, with most of the materials being locally sourced! The boat was largely built as strip planked with epoxy & glass over.

We were invited aboard, and promptly given glasses of wine prior to our grand tour of the boat. The boat's designers and builders refer to it as a "floating art" instead of a "boat" and I agree with them wholeheartedly.

After admiring their work, Tom visited Samadhi V and we discussed the differences in vessels, the sea and life.

Check out the video and the website! Even more videos are here.

Playing with multi-hulls and a Visit to Costa Rica's "Alcatraz"

This weekend we met two of the most lovely Ticos in a land of remarkably warm and affable people, Adri Molina and Alex Sanchez. While enjoying a late supper with them at the Costa Rica Yacht Club next door (and being introduced to sopa negra), they suggested we all take a cruise over to Isla San Lucas for the day and explore the prison. Naturally, we jumped at the opportunity.

Alex, Adri, & Nicholas went out on the little trimaran while their captain Miguel accompanied Kelly, Phillip, and Alexander on their Hobie cat. We made it across to the island without a hitch and had an amazing couple of hours exploring the abandoned prison and its village. The guards were very helpful, but we were basically left to ourselves and allowed to explore wherever our fancies took us.

Sadly, the prison is in an extreme state of disrepair from neglect and vandalism. It is very interesting though to see how these prisoners were housed in large rooms with little to no ventilation. One can only begin to imagine what it must have been like during the rainy season. I shudder to think...

After we'd had our fill, Miguel came and picked us up from the little beach. We ate out lunches aboard the Hobie in the afternoon sun. There was even a little breeze to keep us from feeling the heat too much.

For our return trip, we switched craft. Alex and Adri took charge of the boys on the Hobie with Miguel while Phil and I decided to try our hand at the little Wind Rider. The trimaran is underpowered, so the division of people made more sense. Besides, with the afternoon chop on the gulf, it was going to be a wet ride!

We were doing great sailing out of the mouth of the little bay at San Lucas when all of a sudden we heard a loud POP! The port side rudder control cable had snapped. Phil tried his hand a reaching back with his left hand to direct the boat, but it was quickly clear that it would not be a solution for crossing the gulf. Luckily, we had a wealth of shock cords in the boat for keeping things stowed. Without too much trouble, we were able to repurpose one in place of the broken cable. It wasn't a perfect solution, but having the shock cord apply a constant tension to port let Phil steer with the starboard control cable.

After we that, we had a blast. I went out on the trampoline to try to let us keep things balanced. In the end I got a little cold from the wind, so I retreated inside the little cockpit. We managed to sail all the way up the estuary until just before docking. Not a bad day out sailing!

Feliz viaje Wayne!

It was about time to make a supply run, so we decided to share Wayne's rental car and give him a lift to the airport. As usual, Phil & Wayne had an adventure convincing Thrifty to actually give them a car. Still, before too long, they were back with a new little Yaris that would fit the bill.

The next morning, we headed out, but not before Miss Ruby the Wonder Dog could coat herself with little grass burs. Aw well, at least she had a good romp before getting on a long plane ride. The boys spent the majority of the drive to Alajuela helping her regain her coiffure.

It was a sad parting, especially since we aren't sure if Wayne will return before we head south. Wayne, we hope your delivery is very boring and the wind is at your back. I'm sure our paths will cross again!

Then it was off to our hotel, lunch at a fabulous Indian restaurant, more shopping, and a delightful sushi dinner at Fabio Lemos's home. Does it get any better than this?

Tied up in Puerto Azul

We are back in Puntarenas! This is definitely something we were not expecting but a most welcome change in our itinerary, to be sure!

However, this time we are not moored at the Costa Rica Yacht Club, but instead at the new Puerto Azul Resort & Marina. We are very happy to be back on shore power & water for the first time in over 6 months!

The 'resort' side of this development is still under construction, but the marina is open. To give you an idea of what it is like here, all of the docks at Puerto Azul are made of solid teak! Puntarenas now has a first class marina facility and, finally, an alternative to insanely expensive Los Suenos.

If you are interested in staying at Puerto Azul Marina you should contact the marina developer, Fabio Lemos.

Isla San Lucas

After a restful night sandwiched in the channel between Isla Cedros & Isla Jesusita, we got underway for our next destination, Isla San Lucas. A former penal colony, Isla San Lucas is now a protected Costa Rican National Heritage Site. It's very special to cruisers because of a well-protected little bay on the east side of the island. When we set sail, we thought that we would tour the old prison and see the sights ashore. Well, things turned out otherwise...

We arrived at Isla San lucas a little ahead of Wayne and Ruby aboard S/V Learnativity. Wayne had slowed to perform some compass calibration earlier in the day. We had the "honor" of choosing the anchoring point. We based our decision on information in the S/V Sarana guidebook (which we have found to be invaluable). There were already three sailboats anchored in the area where we wished to drop the hook. In fact, all three were rafted together.

In our chosen spot, there was only 11' of water. We need 7.5' to avoid touching bottom so I was a bit apprehensive! A glance at the tides indicated we were at low tide, so we anchored a bit apart from the rafted sailboats and set about putting Samadhi into "in port" mode.

We weren't anchored for 2 minutes before a small sailing dinghy came racing by with its sole occupant offering free use of the craft! At first we demurred, but they would not take no for an answer. It didn't take long for all of us to take turns sailing the little Open Bic. Even better, it turned out that there were four sailing kids aboard the three boats. Soon, Alexander and Nicholas had their own sailing dinghy in the water and four little sailboats were out prowling the bay!

We were invited aboard the "raft" for a BBQ that evening. Our charming hosts had an amazing feast in store for us. Fabio, Theresa, Edgar, Josu, and Laura kept our plates and glasses full while regaling us with stories of their lives. Meanwhile, Nicholas and Alexander played with their new friends Bito, Miguel, Zaca, and Maria Elena. We all dined on BBQ lobsters so fresh they tried to crawl off the grill, marinated grilled pork, and BBQ beef. Yum, Yum, and YUM!

To cap it off, we enjoyed some of the best rum I have ever had. Josu had brought it specially for Fabio all the way from Venezuela! Santa Teresa 1796 Ron Antiguo de Solera is a 15 year old solera rum that is one of the most subtle, elegant rums we have ever tasted. It was the perfect complement to a truly delightful evening.

More impressive still, Fabio took us on a tour of his 40 foot Hunter sailboat. Once you step aboard you realize that this is NOT an ordinary Hunter! Fabio completely gutted the boat to a bare hull, then redesigned and rebuilt the interior using lightweight cored material. Not only did the boat lose a lot of weight, but the new interior design makes much better use of the available space! During our tour we saw detail after detail of his reconstruction that rival some of the custom yachts we have been on. I feel bad calling this boat a "Hunter" as it bears so little resemblance to the mass produced boats that carry the same label. Truly amazing, I could write a lot more just about the boat!

All of us returned that evening happy, but exhausted! New friends, a new port of call, and great food!

Sometime around midnight, it suddenly occurred to me that we didn't visit the former prison ashore. I guess that this means that another trip to Isla San Lucas is in our future...

Visit to Isla Cedros

We left the Tortugas and headed over to Isla Cedros for the night, anchoring in the channel between it and Isla Jesusita. After securing the boats, we all got in the dinghy and went exploring. Along the shore of the peninsula, we found a cute little pulperia set back from a rocky beach in the midst of a carefully manicured hillside. Ruby tried to make friends with the locals like Mancha and (no joke) Killer but was not very successful. The ladies minding the shop urged us to keep a watchful eye out for any banditos as there are reputedly some in the area. On our way back, we swung by the ferry landing at Paquera but were not tempted to land.

Later, Wayne treated us to a homemade dinner aboard S/V Learnativity! As the sun set in a pool of fire, we all sat outside and watched. Then, with the brilliant phosphorescence lighting our way, we dinghied over to our neighbor for a delicious dinner and (good wine and) stimulating conversation with Wayne, followed by a "Tron Style" dinghy ride with a trail of daylight-bright phosphorescence!

Visit to Islas Tortugas

We sailed S/V Samadhi V with S/V Learnativity close behind to Islas Tortugas. This is one of the biggest tourist draws in the area, also known as one of the finest beaches in all of Costa Rica (or so the brochures would have you think). What we found was a bit different...

We did find a white(ish) beach, but it was covered with gringo tourist paraphernalia. Want to lounge in the sun on a chair? You can do this for a cheap price of $6.00 (all prices are in dollars here!). Lots of tourists abound, consuming many tropical beverages, with more coming in every second aboard tourist boat after tourist boat. To make the story short, we didn't stay on the beach!

All was not lost, the snorkeling at the nearby rock spires was lots of fun! Starfish, spider conch, and lobster were all around, surrounded in a cloud of tropical fish!

It makes me sad that most people's experience of Costa Rica will be defined by tour operators. We have become spoiled by our ability to travel to the undeveloped and undisturbed areas.

Visit to Playa Curu

We set sail with Wayne from S/V Learnativity and his dog Ruby for a day of fun at Playa Curu. The Curu Wildlife Refuge is a small reserve on the southwest shore of the Nicoya Peninsula. This reserve is an unusual mix, belonging to both the Costa Rican government and the Schutt Family. Amongst the wide range of wildlife, the refuge harbors a colony of giant oysters which are extremely rare on the Pacific Coast.

After a short hop from Bahia Ballena aboard the good ship Learnativity, we arrived and went ashore to explore. The beach at Curu is truly expansive and is covered with scurrying crabs. Nicholas immediately set to work to capture one for his own. It was fascinating to watch the crabs scuttling rapidly sideways while Nicholas ran across the beach in pursuit! 99.9% of the crabs proved faster than a 10 year old boy... but there is always that .01%!

After the beach, we headed inland where we enjoyed a Tico-style lunch, casados of pork, rice, black beans, cooked vegetables, salad, and fresh tropical fruit. While we ate, we were serenaded (jeered at?) by a troop of Howler Monkeys (monos congos) stationed nearby in a tree. I don't know why they call them "howler" monkeys as they don't really howl. The sound of a howler monkey is more like a growl or a roar. Maybe they should be called "Growler Monkeys"!

Next, we headed out for some snorkeling and beach exploration on the other side of the bay. We found a beautiful white sand beach and established our shore base. Everyone donned their gear and headed into the ocean for a peek around. (Ruby stayed behind to guard the dink.) Water visibility was not the best, maybe 6-8 feet, but it was warm! Water temps hovered around 85 degrees as we swam about looking at fish, shellfish, and the occasional lobster. Kelly and I swam a bit further out and found the artificial reef where new coral is growing over old tires and PVC pipe.

We returned to S/V Learnativity and enjoyed a leisurely cruise back to Bahia Ballena as the sun set. Everyone had a wonderful time, and it was great to be able to cruise aboard someone else's boat for a change. Our thanks to Wayne for hosting us!